At the moment, the hard-right political party Reform UK is witnessing a surge in popularity.
According to many national polls, they would win the most seats if a general election was held today. Of course, we can assume it will be a while until the next election (one isn’t needed until summer 2029) but, for those of us who are scared of what Reform might do, and the increase of xenophobia in the country, it’s certainly a troubling political outlook.
However, what does it look like for people our age?
Well, all data tells us that Reform are not terribly popular among people our age. In a July poll by YouGov gauging the voting intentions of 18–24-year-olds, Reform came fifth behind Labour, the Green Party, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives.
Less than 6% of those under 30 voted Reform in the 2024 election, and the majority of under 30’s who took part in a recent study by the University of Exeter have ruled out the possibility of ever backing the party in the near future.
Evidently, Reform has a lot of catching up to do if they want to win over our age bracket.
However, there is clearly a vocal minority of 18- to 24-year-olds who support the party.
Exeter is one of a handful of universities across the UK with a Reform UK society, with others in Durham, York and Lancaster. How many members these societies have is unknown, but reactions to them being present on campus doesn’t sound positive. YouTube channel PoliticsJOE interviewed students at the University of Lancaster about the Reform society at their uni, and the vast majority think that the society, and the values they stand for, have no place on their campus.
Even the effort that Reform has gone to to get the young vote doesn’t seem to be working. An active TikTok account has about 300,000 followers, with Farage himself having over a million, yet it doesn’t seem to have translated in any spike of support. I’m beginning to wonder how many of those followers are just there out of curiosity to see how the party runs social media.
So, that’s the current outlook. What could happen now?
Well, there’s a common adage - a week is a long time in politics. If that’s the case, four years is an eternity. If that’s how long we have to wait till the election, then there’s a good chance the tides could completely turn. It’s often the case that the party in charge can receive substantial criticism during a term before pulling things back in time for the election.
Reform have recently announced some very controversial policies, including the notoriously unpopular reintroduction of fracking.
Reform have recently announced some very controversial policies, including the notoriously unpopular reintroduction of fracking. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana recently established a new left-wing party currently gaining a lot of traction. At the moment, it’s way too early to call. I do hope that the current wave of support for Reform ends up dissipating, but for now there’s at least the solace that the party will not gain a majority in our voting demographic any time soon.